Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran

[Cricket Warrior]

Hamas names Yahya Sinwar as new overall leader

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as its new overall chief, replacing Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in Tehran last week.

Since 2017, Sinwar has served as the group's leader inside the Gaza strip. He will now become leader of its political wing.

It is believed Sinwar remains in the Gaza strip, though his current whereabouts are unknown.

The announcement comes at a moment of heightened tension in the Middle East, as Iran and its allies threaten retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh, which they blame on Israel. Israel has not commented.

"The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of leader Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement," a statement from Hamas said.

Sinwar currently tops Israel’s most-wanted list. Israel’s security agencies believe he masterminded the planning and execution of the 7 October 2023 attacks, which left over 1,200 people dead and 251 taken back into Gaza as hostages.

Sinwar has not been seen in public since the attacks in October, and is believed to be hiding “10 storeys underground” in Gaza, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Hamas is yet to release details of how he will lead the group’s political bureau.

In 2015, the US included Sinwar on its blacklist of "international terrorists".


BBC

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Israel has vowed to kill Yahya Sinwar after he was announced the new leader of Hamas, as the United States and its allies urge restraint against further escalation in the Middle East

Sinwar, the architect of the 7 October attacks which sparked the war in Gaza was named the new leader of the Palestinian militant group, after his predecessor was killed in a presumed Israeli strike in Iran last week, with Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr also assassinated in Beirut.

With both Tehran and Hezbollah vowing retaliation, world leaders are urging restraint in a bid to avert an all-out regional war. US President Joe Biden discussed such efforts with the leaders of both Egypt and Qatar on Tuesday, including through an immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal.

As Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier above Beirut again on Tuesday in an apparent show of force as Hezbollah leaders spoke in the Lebanese capital, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari vowed “there is only one place for Yahya Sinwar”, pointing to other Hamas figures already killed by Israel.

Source: The Independent

 

[BouncerGuy]

Islamic Bloc Says Israel 'Fully Responsible' For Hamas Leader's Death

Top Muslim diplomats on Wednesday said Israel was "fully responsible" for the "heinous" killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and warned it could destabilise the region.

The declaration came at the end of an extraordinary meeting of the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called in part by Iran, which has vowed to retaliate for the attack on Haniyeh, setting the Middle East on edge.

Israel has not commented on the death of Haniyeh, who lived in Qatar and was a major player in talks to end the war in the Gaza Strip.

After foreign ministers gathered at the OIC's headquarters in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, the bloc issued a statement saying it "holds Israel, the illegal occupying power, fully responsible for this heinous attack", which it described as "a serious infringement" of Iran's sovereignty.

The deputy foreign minister for Saudi Arabia, which until Wednesday had not commented on the attack, described it in similar terms, according to a Saudi government statement.

During the opening ceremony, Mamadou Tangara, foreign minister for current OIC chair The Gambia, said Haniyeh's death risked deepening and widening the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle East.

"This heinous act serves only to escalate the existing tensions potentially leading to a wider conflict that could involve the entire region," Tangara said.

Haniyeh's killing "will not quell the Palestinian cause but rather it amplifies it, underscoring the urgency for justice and human rights for the Palestinian people," he said.

"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states are fundamental principles underpinning the international order.

"Respecting these principles has profound implications and their violation equally carries significant consequences."

Iran's acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, reiterated Tehran's view that it needs to respond.

"Currently, in the absence of any appropriate action by the (United Nations) Security Council against the aggressions and violations of the Israeli regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to use its inherent right to legitimate defence against the aggressions of this regime," he said.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller voiced hope on Wednesday that "all parties that have a relationship with Iran impress upon Iran, the same way we've been impressing upon the government of Israel, that they shouldn't take any steps to escalate the conflict".

Miller said the United States had been in touch with a number of nations attending the OIC meeting and believed there was a "broad consensus" that "escalation would only exacerbate the problems facing the region".

Hamas's Lebanese ally Hezbollah has also pledged to retaliate for Haniyeh's killing and that of its military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier.

Wednesday's meeting was far from the first time the bloc has weighed in on the war, which began with Hamas's October 7 attacks on southern Israel.

That operation resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,677 people, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

In addition to issuing regular statements condemning civilian deaths in Gaza, OIC leaders gathered with their counterparts from the Arab League in November for a summit that condemned Israeli forces' "barbaric" actions in Gaza.

The strong statement masked divisions within the assembled group, as some countries proposed threatening to disrupt oil supplies to Israel and its allies as well as severing any economic and diplomatic ties.

Diplomats said at the time that countries that have formal diplomatic ties with Israel, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, came out against the idea.

Saudi political analyst Mohammed bin Saleh al-Harbi told AFP that, for Wednesday's OIC meeting, "we cannot expect more than condemnation and denunciation."

AFP

 

[FearlessRoar]

China says it backs Iran in defending its sovereignty and security

China supports Iran in defending its “sovereignty, security and national dignity,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iran’s acting foreign minister in a phone call on Sunday, according to a statement by China’s foreign ministry.

In the phone call, Wang repeated Beijing’s denunciation of the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, saying the strike had violated Iran’s sovereignty and threatened regional stability.

Iran and the Palestinian group Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out strike that killed Haniyeh.

Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility for the killing, which has fueled concern that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was turning into a wider Middle East war.

Iran has vowed to “harshly punish” Israel over the assassination.

Wang told Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s acting foreign minister, that the killing of Haniyeh had “directly undermined the Gaza ceasefire negotiation process and undermined regional peace and stability,” China’s foreign ministry said.

“China supports Iran in defending its sovereignty, security and national dignity in accordance with the law, and in its efforts to maintain regional peace and stability, and stands ready to maintain close communication with Iran,” Wang was quoted as saying.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday nominated Abbas Araghchi as the country’s foreign minister. Araghchi had been Iran’s chief negotiator in nuclear talks from 2013 to 2021.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/08/11/china-says-it-backs-iran-in-defending-its-sovereignty-and-security

 

[sweep_shot]

China says it backs Iran in defending its sovereignty and security

China supports Iran in defending its “sovereignty, security and national dignity,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iran’s acting foreign minister in a phone call on Sunday, according to a statement by China’s foreign ministry.

In the phone call, Wang repeated Beijing’s denunciation of the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, saying the strike had violated Iran’s sovereignty and threatened regional stability.

Iran and the Palestinian group Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out strike that killed Haniyeh.

Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility for the killing, which has fueled concern that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was turning into a wider Middle East war.

Iran has vowed to “harshly punish” Israel over the assassination.

Wang told Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s acting foreign minister, that the killing of Haniyeh had “directly undermined the Gaza ceasefire negotiation process and undermined regional peace and stability,” China’s foreign ministry said.

“China supports Iran in defending its sovereignty, security and national dignity in accordance with the law, and in its efforts to maintain regional peace and stability, and stands ready to maintain close communication with Iran,” Wang was quoted as saying.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday nominated Abbas Araghchi as the country’s foreign minister. Araghchi had been Iran’s chief negotiator in nuclear talks from 2013 to 2021.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/08/11/china-says-it-backs-iran-in-defending-its-sovereignty-and-security

China is on the right side of history.

China is again showing efficiency in building bridges with nearby nations.

 

[Champ_Pal]

China is on the right side of history.

China is again showing efficiency in building bridges with nearby nations.

China builds bridges with loans that these poor nations cannot pay back.

Don't forget, China is occupying Tibet and a portion of J & K illegally.

We still are waiting for Iran's response against Israel. We heard their Mullah's and Ministers swear to take revenge against Israel. Still crickets.
If a war indeed happens, China will not get involved. They are too smart to get into wars that do not benefit them financially.

 

[FearlessRoar]

War crimes court ends proceedings against late Hamas leader Haniyeh​

The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Friday it had terminated proceedings against late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following his death in July.

The ICC is currently weighing a request for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders made earlier this year.

In May ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan asked for arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, saying there were reasonable grounds to suspect that Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed Al-Masri and Haniyeh, bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the same statement the prosecutor announced he was also seeking warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant. There has been no word of further developments on those requests.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran on July 31. Israel has also said it killed Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in another airstrike, although Hamas would neither confirm or deny that.

Judges said their decision to terminate proceedings followed the withdrawal of the prosecution request for a warrant for Haniyeh earlier this month.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/war-crimes-court-ends-proceedings-against-late-hamas-leader-haniyeh-2024-09-06/

 

[uppercut]

Hamas names Yahya Sinwar as new overall leader

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as its new overall chief, replacing Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in Tehran last week.

Since 2017, Sinwar has served as the group's leader inside the Gaza strip. He will now become leader of its political wing.

It is believed Sinwar remains in the Gaza strip, though his current whereabouts are unknown.

The announcement comes at a moment of heightened tension in the Middle East, as Iran and its allies threaten retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh, which they blame on Israel. Israel has not commented.

"The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of leader Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement," a statement from Hamas said.

Sinwar currently tops Israel’s most-wanted list. Israel’s security agencies believe he masterminded the planning and execution of the 7 October 2023 attacks, which left over 1,200 people dead and 251 taken back into Gaza as hostages.

Sinwar has not been seen in public since the attacks in October, and is believed to be hiding “10 storeys underground” in Gaza, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Hamas is yet to release details of how he will lead the group’s political bureau.

In 2015, the US included Sinwar on its blacklist of "international terrorists".


BBC

And they take him down in the most brutal manner in a matter of few months.